Dating back to the 1700s, planetary formation theory has
been rooted in the idea that our solar system formed from a
cloud of gas and dust, which orbited the Sun during its
birth. Since the only remnants of the theorized nebula are
the planets, moons, comets, asteroids, etc., evidence
supporting the ``nebular hypothesis'' awaited the discovery
of analogs of the solar nebula. Some 200 years later, we now
have optical and infrared images among a variety of
observations that demonstrate the presence of such nebulae
orbiting most Sun-like stars less than 3~Myr old. However,
modern core accretion theory of planet formation has
stumbled due to the timescales predicted to be necessary to
form planets and the lifespan of disks based upon
observations of gas tracers such as dust and CO line
emission. The disappearance of gas tracers may not indicate
the dissipation of the disk, but also may be interpreted as
a signature of on-going planet formation. Although H2
comprises 70% of the mass of circumstellar disks and will
be the last component of the circumstellar disk to be
collected into planets, it is notoriously difficult to
detect, which is the reason astronomers have relied on
tracer emission to detect and study these disks. In order to
determine whether the disk persists once dust emission is no
longer detectable, observations of H2 are required.
Spectroscopic observations capable of detecting small
amounts (10-10~M\odot) of H2 emission were
conducted in search of possible emission from H2 gas
residing in an otherwise undetectable disk. The results of
these observations will be presented and the location of the
emitting gas will be discussed in the context of possible
stimulation mechanisms.